A.Word.A.Day Archives
from http://wordsmith.org/awad
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Date: Wed May 1 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gam
X-Bonus: In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have. -Lee Iacocca, automobile executive (b. 1924)
This week's theme: Words borrowed from other languages
gam (gam)
noun: A leg, especially a woman's attractive leg.
[Probably from Polari, from Italian gamba (leg), from Latin gamba (leg).
Polari is a jargon used among actors, circus performers, etc. in the UK.
Earliest documented use: 1789.]
noun: 1. A school of whales.
2. A social visit, especially between whalers or ship crews.
verb tr., intr.: To hold such a visit; to spend time talking.
[Perhaps a dialectal variant of game. Earliest documented use: 1850.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=gam
"They didn't call her 'The Girl With the Million Dollar Legs' for nothing:
the actress Betty Grable insured her gams for $500,000 each."
Celebrities and Their Insured Body Parts; Calgary Sun (Canada); Nov 3, 2009.
"If the captain wanted to turn his vessel around in mid-sea to follow a gam
of whales for a few miles, he could do so."
Art Maier; Adventure Afloat; The Washington Post; Feb 6, 1994.
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Date: Thu May 2 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mammonism
X-Bonus: Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own, which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it. -Jonathan Swift, satirist (1667-1745)
This week's theme: Words borrowed from other languages
mammonism (MAM-uh-niz-uhm) noun
The greedy pursuit of riches.
[Via Latin and Greek, from Aramaic mamona (riches). Mammon was personified
as a false god in the New Testament. Earliest documented use: 1843.]
"The IOC is just another rapacious, money-making corporation like any
other, but it conceals all this behind the smokescreen of 'Olympian'
values and sporting heroism. It's worse than any investment bank for
mammonism and is seemingly oblivious to the supreme irony of the world's
foremost sporting spectacle being sponsored by McDonald's and Coke."
Heroic Ideals; Euroweek (London, UK); Jul 27, 2012.
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Date: Fri May 3 00:01:02 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--leviathan
X-Bonus: I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. -Walt Whitman, poet (1819-1892)
This week's theme: Words borrowed from other languages
leviathan (li-VY-uh-thuhn) noun
Something large and powerful.
[Via Latin from Hebrew liwyathan (whale). Earliest documented use: 1382.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=leviathan
"A merger between the two firms, which both belong to London's Magic
Circle of top five law firms, would have created a legal leviathan
with 950 partners and more than 10,000 staff."
Liz Chong; Partners Quit; The Times (London, UK); Aug 1, 2006.
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Date: Mon May 6 00:01:04 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--queer street
X-Bonus: What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness. -Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910)
Language is meant to communicate and offending someone is also a way to
communicate, though not a very nice one. There are plenty of offensive
words in a language, any language, and this week's words may appear
offensive, but aren't.
They may sound, look, or feel like they have something to do with
well-known distasteful words, but they don't. This similarity may
cause some to take offense if the words are used in conversation.
So should they be?
A dictionary meaning of a word tells only so much. A word in a dictionary
is inert. It comes alive only when we use it and give it real meaning. A
word can take multiple meanings depending on the speaker, listener, tone,
and the context.
Take an everyday word like boy, for example. An adult man wouldn't think
twice about his mother calling him a boy. But chances are he'd resent a
store clerk or his boss, even an older boss, calling him thus. And that
may also explain to folks who wonder, for example, why blacks use the
N-word amongst themselves, yet are offended if people outside their
community say it.
One might say: Words don't offend people, people offend people.
So should you use this week's terms? Technically, these are perfectly
agreeable words, but technically is not how life works. It all depends
on the context. For example, I'd avoid using the term queer street if
I knew the person I was speaking to was gay.
What do you think? I invite you to discuss this in our online forum
Wordsmith Talk http://wordsmith.org/board/ .
[Even though words featured this week are not offensive, email filters
are not smart enough to understand that. It's possible that the filter
at your organization tries to protect you from looking at this week's
emails. If you find any missing emails, you can view them at http://wordsmith.org/words/today.html .]
queer street (kweer street) noun
A state of hardship, especially financial hardship.
[The origin of the term is not clear. Carey Street, site of the bankruptcy
court in London, has been proposed, but the court came decades after the
term. It's also been suggested that traders put a query mark against
customers suspected of having financial difficulties. Earliest documented
use: 1811.]
"Mike Bessey said: You can't really make a case that UK farmers are on
queer street as a whole -- on average they are surviving and starting
modest investment."
Caroline Stocks; £25m Aid Won't Help Struggling UK Dairy Farmers;
Farmers Weekly (UK); Jan 22, 2010.
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Date: Tue May 7 00:01:04 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--niggler
X-Bonus: They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
This week's theme: Terms that appear offensive but aren't
niggler (NIG-luhr) noun
1. A person who pays excessive attention to petty details.
2. A person who criticizes constantly or repeatedly.
[Origin unknown, perhaps of Scandinavian origin. Earliest documented use: 1781.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=niggler
"A niggler might note that every element is at times an eensy bit too
perfectly meshed and worked over. Today, I don't feel like niggling."
Lisa Schwarzbaum; Hugo; Entertainment Weekly (New York); Nov 30, 2011.
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Date: Wed May 8 00:01:09 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tar baby
X-Bonus: Life is an adventure in forgiveness. -Norman Cousins, author and editor (1915-1990)
This week's theme: Terms that appear offensive but aren't
tar baby (TAHR bay-bee) noun
Something to be avoided: a sticky situation or problem from which it's
almost impossible to extricate oneself.
[After "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby", one of the folk stories compiled
by Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908) in Uncle Remus: His Songs and His
Sayings. In the story, Brer Fox tries to trap Brer Rabbit by making a
baby doll out of tar and puts it on the side of the road. Earliest
documented use: 1881, in the above-mentioned story.]
"The Nixon tar baby clung to Mr. Ford. A month after taking office he
pardoned the ex-president, immediately dissipating much of the good
will derived from his handling of the White House changeover."
Editorial; A Ford, Not a Lincoln; The Blade (Toledo, Ohio); Dec 28, 2006.
NOTES: The term has developed racial overtones and should be used
cautiously. Check out the Toledo Blade's follow-up about the use
of the term in the above editorial:
http://www.toledoblade.com/JackLessenberry/2007/01/14/Editorial-on-Ford-raises-question-of-racial-sensitivity.html
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Date: Thu May 9 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cockshy
X-Bonus: People change and forget to tell each other. -Lillian Hellman, playwright (1905-1984)
This week's theme: Terms that appear offensive but aren't
cockshy (KOK-shy) noun
1. The game of throwing missiles at a target; such a throw.
2. An object of criticism or ridicule.
[From Old English cocc (rooster) + shy (to throw), of uncertain origin.
Earliest documented use: 1836.]
NOTES: At one time it was a popular sport to throw sticks or stones
at roosters. Unfortunately, some people still believe it's a sport to
shoot at pigeons and other animals.
"Digby Jones: If he wants to take a cockshy at business for electoral
reasons that's understandable. But I don't want it doing damage to
the image of business, particularly in our schools."
Louise Armitstead and David Smith; Which Cameron Really Means Business?;
The Sunday Times (London, UK); May 28, 2006.
"The rabble of Edinburgh were all out ... to hurl their missiles of
hate at that sure cock-shy."
Margaret Irwin; The Bride; 1939.
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Date: Fri May 10 00:01:04 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--niggard
X-Bonus: I'm not at all contemptuous of comforts, but they have their place and it is not first. -E.F. Schumacher, economist and author (1911-1977)
This week's theme: Terms that appear offensive but aren't
niggard (NIG-hurd)
noun: A mean, stingy person.
adjective: Stingy.
[From Middle English nigard, of Scandinavian origin. Earliest documented
use: 1384.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=niggard
NOTES: Today's word has nothing to do with the N-word; however, the similarity
in sound has led people to object to it. It's seen more often in its
adjectival/adverbial form, niggardly, as in: "Japan has the world's second-largest
economy, yet its promised $200m so far is niggardly." (The Economist).
In the US, the word has become radioactive and its use has led to many
controversies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22 .
"It is a niggard's gift that costs the giver nothing."
George R.R. Martin; A Dance with Dragons; Bantam Books; 2011.
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Date: Mon May 13 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ensconce
X-Bonus: Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. -Leo Buscaglia, author (1924-1998)
A.Word.A.Day is all about improving one's verbal ability. This week
we'll improve our verb-ability with five words that are all verbs.
To say "In the beginning was the verb" wouldn't be too far off as the
word comes from Latin verbum which means both 'verb' and 'word'. The
quotation may not be verbatim, but it's clearly pro-verb.
Verbs give life to a sentence. You could say they bring verve, which also
came to us from Latin verbum.
At any rate, verbs are about action, so let's put them into action.
ensconce (en-SKONS) verb tr.
1. To settle firmly and comfortably.
2. To hide securely.
[From en- (in) + sconce (small fortification), from Dutch schans
(entrenchment). Earliest documented use: 1589.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=ensconce
"Vladimir Putin is once more ensconced behind the Kremlin's walls."
Not Such a Strongman; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 9, 2012.
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Date: Tue May 14 00:01:06 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--equivocate
X-Bonus: You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by. -James M. Barrie, novelist and playwright (1860-1937)
This week's theme: Verbs
equivocate (i-KWIV-uh-kayt) verb intr.
To be vague or ambiguous, especially in order to mislead.
[From Latin aequi-/equi- (equal) + vocare (to call), from vox (voice).
Earliest documented use: 1590.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=equivocate
"The bishop equivocates and wrings his fat hands and procrastinates."
Susan Wiggs; At the Queen's Summons; Harlequin; 2012.
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Date: Wed May 15 00:01:05 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--petrify
X-Bonus: Seek not to follow in the footsteps of men of old; seek what they sought. -Matsuo Basho, poet (1644-1694)
This week's theme: Verbs
petrify (PE-tri-fy)
verb tr.: 1. To turn into stone.
2. To harden or deaden.
3. To stun or paralyze with fear.
verb intr.: To become stony or callous.
[From Latin petra (rock), from Greek petra (cliff, rock). Ultimately from
the Indo-European root per- (to lead, pass over), which also gave us
support, comport, petroleum, sport, passport, rapporteur
http://wordsmith.org/words/rapporteur.html , petrichor (the pleasant
smell that accompanies the first rain) http://wordsmith.org/words/petrichor.html ,
colporteur (a peddler of religious books) http://wordsmith.org/words/colporteur.html ,
Swedish fartlek (a training technique) http://wordsmith.org/words/fartlek.html ,
Norwegian fjord (bay) http://wordsmith.org/words/fjord.html , and
Sanskrit parvat (mountain). Earliest documented use: 1425.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=petrify
"The thought of death does not petrify me."
Keith Roach; Dr. Roach; Idaho State Journal (Pocatello); Jan 9, 2013.
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Date: Thu May 16 00:01:04 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--impute
X-Bonus: "Do you ever read any of the books you burn?" "That's against the law!" "Oh. Of course." -Ray Bradbury, science-fiction writer (1920-2012)
This week's theme: Verbs
impute (im-PYOOT) verb tr.
To attribute, ascribe, or credit, often unfairly.
[From Old French imputer, from Latin imputare, from in- (in) + putare
(to assess, reckon). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pau- (to
cut, stroke, or stamp), which is also the source of amputate, compute,
dispute, count, pavid http://wordsmith.org/words/pavid.html , puerile
http://wordsmith.org/words/puerile.html , and catchpole
http://wordsmith.org/words/catchpole.html . Earliest documented use: 1480.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=impute
"'There's a tendency to impute much greater skill on the part of somebody
like Jamie Dimon, who is very smooth,' Bill Miller says."
Hugh Son; Bank of America Chief's Tumbles Turn Into Strides;
The Washington Post; Mar 10, 2013.
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Date: Fri May 17 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--exscind
X-Bonus: Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest. The maple and the pine may whisper to each other with their leaves ... But the trees also commingle their roots in the darkness underground, and the islands also hang together through the ocean's bottom. -William James, psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910)
This week's theme: Verbs
exscind (ek-SIND) verb tr.
To cut out or off.
[From Latin exscindere, from ex- (out) + scindere (to cut). Ultimately
from the Indo-European root skei- (to cut or split), which also gave
us excise, schism, ski, shin, scienter http://wordsmith.org/words/scienter.html
and adscititious http://wordsmith.org/words/adscititious.html .
Earliest documented use: 1662.]
"The knife skipped off the stone and almost exscinded Shih Te's index finger."
Alexander Goldstein; The Foundling; Trafford; 2009.
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Date: Mon May 20 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vesuvian
X-Bonus: May my silences become more accurate. -Theodore Roethke, poet (1908-1963)
Next week marks 60 years of the first scaling of the Mount Everest, the
highest peak in the world. Going up nine kilometers in storms, avalanches,
and thin air is not just any hike on the trail. Nearly 4,000 have made it to
the top and back but more than 200 have died in the attempt.
It's hard, but not impossible if you're determined. A double-amputee has
scaled the peak, so has a blind person. A 13-year-old boy has done it,
and so has a 76-year-old. And one man has done it as many as 21 times
("Honey, I'm stepping out for a stroll ... on Mount Everest").
We all have our mountains to scale. Some of these are not as visible
as Mt. Everest though they may be equally challenging. Scaling them
comes with no accolade, but they are nonetheless worthwhile. May you
reach all the peaks you set out to scale.
Everest has become a metaphor for a high point of something. This week
we'll see five other words that are derived from mountains and hills.
vesuvian (vi-SOO-vee-uhn) adjective
Marked by sudden explosive outbursts.
[After Mount Vesuvius, a volcano that buried the cities of Pompeii and
Herculaneum when it erupted in 79 CE. Earliest documented use: 1673.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=vesuvian
Mount Vesuvius: http://wordsmith.org/words/vesuvian_large.jpg
Photo: Julius V http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjamv/4269178976/
"It erupted without warning from a young man ... his Vesuvian sneeze
rocked the room."
Dr. Kate Scannell; Tis the Season of the 'Winter Flu Olympics' -- Again;
Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, California); Jan 20, 2013.
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Date: Tue May 21 00:01:02 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--parnassian
X-Bonus: True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring. -Martin Luther King, Jr., civil-rights leader (1929-1968)
This week's theme: Words coined after mountains and hills
Parnassian (pahr-NAS-ee-uhn) adjective
Of or relating to poetry.
[After Mount Parnassus, a mountain in Greece, considered sacred to Apollo,
the Greek god of music and poetry, and the Muses. Earliest documented use: 1565.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=parnassian
Theater of Delphi on the southwestern spur of Mount Parnassus:
http://wordsmith.org/words/images/parnassian_large.jpg
Photo: Leonid Tsvetkov
"Whether scaling to Parnassian heights or plunging inward to insight,
the poems' impeccable musicality and craftsmanship will win the trust
and admiration of many."
Fiction Reviews; Publishers Weekly (New York); Oct 15, 2007.
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Date: Wed May 22 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chevy
X-Bonus: Without the freedom to criticize, there is no true praise. -Pierre Beaumarchais, playwright (1732-1799)
This week's theme: Words coined after mountains and hills
chevy (CHEV-ee)
verb tr.: To chase or annoy.
noun: A chase, hunt, or a hunting cry.
[After Cheviot Hills bordering England and Scotland. A battle between
English and Scottish forces over a hunting expedition is described in
a 15th-century ballad (The Ballad of Chevy Chase). A chase is a tract
of land reserved for hunting. The name of the city Chevy Chase in
Maryland has the same origin. Earliest documented use: before 1825.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=chevy
Cheviot Hills http://wordsmith.org/words/images/chevy_large.jpg
Photo: Richard Johns http://www.flickr.com/photos/richiej1/5552225317/
"[Boys] chevied the younger boys to greater speed as they stumbled
down the stairs."
Clinton W. Trowbridge; All Tied Up; The Christian Science Monitor
(Boston, Massachusetts); Jan 22, 1999.
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Date: Thu May 23 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chartreuse
X-Bonus: We are on the cusp of this time where I can say, "I speak as a citizen of the world" without others saying, "God, what a nut." -Lawrence Lessig, professor and activist (b. 1961)
This week's theme: Words coined after mountains and hills
chartreuse (shahr-TROOZ, -TROOS) noun
1. A light, yellowish green.
2. An aromatic, usually yellow or green liqueur, originally made by
Carthusian monks in Grenoble, France.
adjective
Having a light, yellowish green color.
[From mountain to monastery to drink to color -- that's the circuitous
route for this word's origin. La Grande Chartreuse, a Carthusian monastery
got its name after the Chartreuse Mountains. The liqueur got its name
because it was first made by the monks in the monastery. Finally, the
color got its name from the liqueur. Earliest documented use: 1806.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=chartreuse
Chartreuse Mountains: http://wordsmith.org/words/images/chartreuse_large.jpg
Photo: Luc Jamet http://www.flickr.com/photos/flurryofsmoke/7489311556/
"The tree crowns were packed together like puffballs and shimmered
with every hue, tint, and shade of green: chartreuse, emerald, lime,
aquamarine, teal, bottle, olive, jade."
Douglas Preston; The El Dorado Machine; The New Yorker; May 6, 2013.
"I must have been 7 or 8, squatting on the summer-hot pavement with my
sister, scrawling disappearing messages on the concrete with snapped
leaves of an ice plant, when it occurred to me that people could agree
on the name of a thing, in this case, a color -- the green of the
translucent fluid that oozed from the leaf, which we determined was
chartreuse -- while seeing it very differently. I understood that when
my sister agreed on the name chartreuse, she might, in fact, be seeing
what I call red or yellow or blue. I began to see language less as a
bridge between people than as a threadbare rope tossed from one edge of
a precipice to open hands at another."
Allison Hoover Bartlett; An Ear For Color: Exploring the Curious World of
Synesthesia, Where Senses Merge in Mysterious Ways; The Washington Post;
Jan 22, 2002.
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Date: Fri May 24 00:01:04 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--himalayan
X-Bonus: I have a trunk containing continents. -Beryl Markham, adventurer (1902-1986)
This week's theme: Words coined after mountains and hills
Himalayan (him-uh-LAY-uhn, hi-MAHL-yuhn) adjective
1. Enormously large.
2. Relating to the Himalayas.
[After the Himalayas, the mountain range having Mount Everest, the highest
mountain in the world. From Sanskrit him (snow) + alaya (abode). Ultimately
from the Indo-European root ghei- (winter), which is the ancestor of words
such as chimera http://wordsmith.org/words/chimera.html ,
hibernaculum http://wordsmith.org/words/hibernaculum.html ,
hiemal http://wordsmith.org/words/hiemal.html , and
hibernate. Earliest documented use: 1866.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=Himalayan
"As Otago lurches towards its worst season in living memory, it is
becoming plain to see the Himalayan task these coaches are facing."
Steve Hepburn; Ordinary Otago Side Outclassed; Otago Daily Times
(New Zealand); Oct 18, 2010.
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Date: Mon May 27 00:01:02 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--palatine
X-Bonus: If you write to impress it will always be bad, but if you write to express it will be good. -Thornton Wilder, writer (1897-1975)
Mark Twain once said, "The difference between the almost right word and
the right word is really a large matter -- it's the difference between
the lightning bug and the lightning."
Twain had a point, but in the definitions of this week's words, replacing
a letter with another is not going to make much difference. It's still
the same word that's being defined. Each of this week's words has two
definitions that differ by a single letter (e.g. lightning/lightening).
CONTEST: Can you think of a word like this? A word that has two definitions
each of which differs by only one letter? Send your entries -- a word and
its two (or more) definitions -- to (contest AT wordsmith.org). Be sure to include
your location (city/state/country).
Readers with the winning entries will receive their choice of the word
game One Up! http://www.uppityshirts.com/oneup.shtml, the T-shirt "AWAD
to the wise is sufficient" http://www.uppityshirts.com/awad.shtml or a
signed copy of my book A Word A Day http://wordsmith.org/awad/books.html .
Send your entries before the weekend. Results will be announced in AWADmail.
palatine (PAL-uh-tyn, -teen) adjective
Of or relating to a palace.
[After Palatine, from Latin Palatium, the name of the centermost of the
seven hills on which ancient Rome was built. Roman emperors built their
palaces on this hill. The word palace also derives from the same source.
Earliest documented use: 1436.]
Of or relating to a palate.
[From French palatin, from Latin palatum palate (roof of the mouth).
Earliest documented use: 1656.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=palatine
Roman ruins on the Palatine Hill http://wordsmith.org/words/images/palatine_large.jpg
Photo: Ellyn Peirson http://www.flickr.com/photos/writing/2300542303/
"The palatine city Qal'a Bani Hammad in Algeria had terraced gardens
and, in one of its palaces, an enormous rectangular pool."
D. Fairchild Ruggles; Islamic Gardens and Landscapes; University of
Pennsylvania Press; 2008.
"The teeth, tongue, palate, and gum are subjected to a direct painful
influence -- that is, direct pain which acts upon the minor palatine
nerve."
Aleksandr Nevzorov; The Horse Crucified and Risen; Nevzorov Haute
Ecole; 2011.
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Date: Tue May 28 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--collier
X-Bonus: I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (1875-1965)
This week's theme: What a difference a letter makes
collier (KOL-yuhr) noun
1. A coal miner.
2. A coal liner.
[From Old English col (coal). Earliest documented use: 1594, 1661.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=collier
"Gunar turned to find a grimy-faced man, black as a collier."
Lisa Hendrix; Immortal Champion; Berkley; 2011.
"When the collier Marlin sailed into Hampton Roads on Jan 14, it didn't
arrive like most coal ships do -- empty."
Gregory Richards; Area Getting Two Facilities for Incoming Coal; The
Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk); Feb 1, 2007.
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Date: Wed May 29 00:01:02 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lares and penates
X-Bonus: On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow. -Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)
This week's theme: What a difference a letter makes
lares and penates (LAR-eez and puh-NAY-teez) noun
1. Household gods (the benevolent gods in an ancient Roman household).
2. Household goods (a family's treasured possessions).
[From Latin Lares et Penates, from Lares, plural of Lar (in Roman mythology,
the deity or spirit who protected a household) + et (and) + Penates (deities
of the household that were believed to bring wealth), from penus (provisions,
interior of a house). Earliest documented use: 1616.]
In an ancient Roman home, a shrine for the guardian spirits was called lararium.
A lararium from Pompeii: http://wordsmith.org/words/images/lares_and_penates.jpg
[Photo: Patricio Lorente]
"But let's face it, the nearest thing that many Aussies have in the way of
religion, or, as it is labelled with new-age vagueness, spirituality, are
those little do-it-yourself offerings to the roadside gods, the lares and
penates of the new-age pantheists."
The Soft Toy Taking on a Religious Symbolism; The Canberra Times
(Australia); Jan 14, 2006.
"The storehouse of all the shame and vulnerability in Ben's life would be
locked; a private museum of curios with but one visitor, himself, to stare
at the degraded and rejected lares and penates."
Kate Fillion; The Artful Forgery of the Self; The Toronto Star (Canada);
Feb 6, 1993.
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Date: Thu May 30 00:01:03 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hyperbolic
X-Bonus: Although the connections are not always obvious, personal change is inseparable from social and political change. -Harriet Lerner, psychologist (b. 1944)
This week's theme: What a difference a letter makes
hyperbolic (hy-puhr-BOL-ik) adjective
1. Of or pertaining to hyperbole.
2. Of or pertaining to hyperbola.
[From Greek hyperbole (excess), from hyperballein (to exceed), from hyper-
+ ballein (to throw). Earliest documented use: 1646, 1676.]
NOTES: When you employ hyperbole in your discourse, you are doing
what a devil does (to throw), etymologically speaking. The word devil
ultimately comes from Greek diaballein (to throw across, slander).
Some other words that share the same root are ballistic, emblem,
embolism, metabolism, parable, problem, parabola, and symbol.
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=hyperbolic
"'My objective is to build something sustainable that lasts 100 years,'
says Mr Kotak, who is upbeat without being hyperbolic."
Kotak Moment; The Economist (London, UK); May 26, 2012.
"She's made a skirt to wear to conferences
with a crocheted hyperbolic hem.
Each of its ruffles ruffles."
Susan Blackwell Ramsey; A Mind Like This; University of Nebraska Press; 2012.
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Date: Fri May 31 00:31:02 EDT 2013
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--debark
X-Bonus: The words a father speaks to his children in the privacy of the home are not overheard at the time, but, as in whispering galleries, they will be clearly heard at the end and by posterity. -Jean Paul Richter, writer (1763-1825)
This week's theme: What a difference a letter makes
debark (dee-BARK) verb tr.
To remove the bark from a dog.
[From de- (from) + bark, from Old English borcian (to bark). Earliest
documented use: 1943.]
To remove the bark from a log.
[From de- (from) + Old Norse börkr (bark). Earliest documented use: 1744.]
debark (di-BARK) verb tr., intr.
To disembark.
[From French debarquer, from de- (from) + barque (ship). Earliest
documented use: 1744.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=debark
"Dr. Marder said they will probably debark Truffle unless she quickly
learns to play quietly."
Sam Dolnick; Heel. Sit. Whisper. Good Dog; The New York Times; Feb 3, 2010.
"Mike Rowe finds himself ... heading to a mill to help debark and
process wood for a log cabin."
Emily Yahr; Highlights; The Washington Post; Feb 22, 2011.